(First off, sorry for the double post, if a mod could delete the previous version, that'd be great, I don't know if I can delete my own threads on here, it's been so long.)

Hi there everyone,


Long time member, but haven't posted much in the past 10 years (or around Black Friday probably after becoming a live player for most of the last decade). I've slowly been learning HU more and more in the past 2+ years since I feel like I have a reasonable grasp on the game and how it should be played from small/mid/high stakes online (up to $10/20), but I'm no nosebleed expert by any means.

I've recently been approached by a reg online that has usually played the 6 max games with me and now that our site has been slowing down a ton, we've been getting involved in some HU battles over the last couple weeks (Roughly 16k hands sample size so far).

My problem (although I feel like I have a huge edge on him being that I don't feel like he understands even the simplest idea of minimal defense frequency based on raise sizes), is that I feel as though I'm calling too many hands preflop (even though I'm calling the allotted amount of hands against someone who uses the min raise strategy) and even though he's only raising close to 35% of these hands, I feel as though I can't seem to win at showdown as much as I should be lately.

To be more specific, here are his personal stats as of recent.
The stats listed in order from left to right are:
VPIP/PFR/3bet/4bet/5bet



And these are my personal stats as of recent.
The stats listed in order from left to right are:
VPIP/PFR/3bet/4bet/5bet



Obviously, as you can see, there is a huge discrepancy among the number of hands we are playing, raising, and 3betting/4betting/etc. I'm finding myself to be maybe even a little too loose for him, as I find myself getting stacked when shoving even 100bbs with 99-1010 preflop. Does anyone have any particular idea how I should change my style in regards to a player of this type? I have always been using 2.5x preflop as my default raise size, but like I said, sometimes I feel like I'm getting owned when it comes to showdown hands, but yet, my red line is going through the roof, which is NOT something I'm used to, because as a 6 max player normally, my red line generally ends up long term.

Am I doing anything wrong here? Am I still playing optimally by calling as many hands as I should still be based on his min raise open strategy, but yet, as you can see, is CLEARLY not raising enough hands to be an effective min raiser preflop.

Here is my overall graph of the last 4 times we've played in the past week. As you can see my redline is the only thing making me money, and I'm constantly feeling like I'm losing at showdown.


Thank you for any advice you guys might have on this subject. It will be greatly appreciated.

VPIP PFR are very outdated stats because they are generalized a lot of ranges into one stat



Look at
BU open % and size
BB fold/call/3b % vs size(s)

Generally if you want answers to your threads keep them short and concise.


People have short attn spans will just click away if your intro is too long.

Hand ranges are typically in descending not ascending order

1010 is not something you should ever write. It's generally TT, possibly 00 or

so TT-99 is the way to write that range


Jamming mid pairs pre is very old school. In almost all situation calling a 4bet is higher EV these days.

In 3+max you have red to blue line transfer; said another way red lines sum to a negative.
In HU you don't all red lines sum to zero. So normal thing to have happen.


I generally think it's a waste of time to look at red line. Doesn't improve your game.

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I kinda gave up on this thread after, like you said, not much attention was given to it after about a month or so, more importantly, the player in question moved to another state in the US here, and therefore doesn't play in my state-wide-only Pokerstars player pool anymore.

Yes, I know "1010" is NOT the standard when it comes to discussing ranges. It's just a personal quirk that I have when talking poker and taking notes. I've been playing poker online/live full time for well over a decade now and I'm never going to use TT, because I've always had a conniption with myself that 10's are still a numerical in my mind, whereas A, K, Q, J, are not. I just wish that poker software and HUDs started out using 10's and not TT in their graphic design tools.

Lastly, can you elaborate on this "red to blue line transfer" characteristic of 3+ max games? Can this simply be explained by the fact that rake is involved, and thereofore, it's going to be impossible for all players to win? Basically, just like the fact that if you took 6 players with the EXACT same skill set and tendencies, and you gave them 1 million BB's each to play with, that in theory, if they played for years on end with a standard rake structure, that they would all eventually go broke over time because of the rake involved?

It's not because of Rake, it's because of folded money (red) is transferred to showdown money (blue).


Example

This is the red->blue line transfer that happens in every pot in 3+handed that reaches showdown and a blind or other player has folded with money in the pot.


The opposite never happens.


This is why the sum of all red lines is deeply negative in 3+ handed games.